The R/V Wecoma transported part of the expedition team to the Mariana islands

The Mariana Islands

In September 2003, I participated in a trip to the Mariana Islands where I collected rock samples for melt inclusion studies of volatiles as part of my post doctoral work at the Carnegie Institution of Washington. The Mariana Islands are located in the western Pacific and are the result of subduction of the Pacific plate beneath the Philippine Plate. The aim of this project was to understand how volatiles are cycled through subduction zones. This collaborative study involved scientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the University of New Mexico, Boston University and Washington University. On this expedition we collected volcanic rocks, fumarole and hot spring emissions, as well as made use of land-based remote sensing techniques at Anatahan volcano. Please see http://scripps.ucsd.edu/marianas/ for more details